Will Super Rugby’s Moana Pasifika Finally Put an End to Pacific Islander Exploitation?
Thanks @ablaze for sparking an idea for me to write about rugby. This is my first rugby post in Sports Talk and found it so fun to write about. @ablaze recently wrote his first rugby post in a year which you can check out here. He spoke about respect in rugby and in the process of writing a comment on his post, sparked what I'm writing now.
Today I'm talking about what can be perceived as the exploitation of Pacific Islanders in rugby. I used to love watching and playing rugby growing up but unfortunately as I grew older, I couldn't help but feel disillusioned at the state of international rugby.
*full disclaimer, I am of Samoan heritage so my arguments may be slightly bias!
Moana Pasifika is a rugby team that is about to kick off playing in the Australia & New Zealand Super Rugby tournament. It will be made up of mostly Samoans and Tongans but will also feature other Pacific Island nations. Unfortunately, the team is at least 20 years too late for my liking.
The Super 12 competition was the original format of the Super Rugby competition established by SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australian Rugby) after the sport became professional in 1995. Umm ... rugby only became professional in 1995?! Mind boggling.
Anyway, by 2020 there were 15 teams in the competition until South African teams withdrew from the competition. An Argentinian and Japanese side were also excluded from the future of the competition and a revised Super Rugby competition will kick off shortly.
The Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua are the two sides who will join the ten existing Super Rugby clubs after being granted licenses to join the Super Rugby season for 2022. The teams will share broadcasting revenue and World Rugby has supported the teams financial as well as provided performance and administrative support to the teams. South Auckland will be the base for Moana Pasifika - a large Pacific Island diaspora living in the area - and the Fijian Drua will play out of Fiji.
Although I'm excited about a return to a 'Super 12' competition featuring Pacific Island teams, I'm worried that this is merely an effort to fill the competition following the exits of the South African, Japanese and Argentinian sides.
Battling against the odds is nothing new for Pacific Islanders when it comes to rugby. In 2017, Samoa played England in a rugby game. Samoans were paid £650 each for the match and English players were paid £22,000. With that sort of money, it's hard to retain the best talent to play for Samoa or any of the Pacific Islands for that matter.
Fly-half Timothy Lafaele is Samoan-born, played senior rugby for Coca-Cola Red Sparks in Japan, gained citizenship in 2017 and has been capped by Japan more than 20 times.
Manu Tuilagi has played almost 50 times for England and has brothers who has played for Samoa. He actually faced deportation six years after overstaying a holiday visa in England and after an appeal, was granted indefinite leave to remain. A year later he represented England. How convenient...
Bundee Aki grew up in New Zealand with Samoan parents, so he would be more likely to represent Samoa you'd think especially if he wasn't considered for the All Blacks side. He joined Irish side Connacht and gained residency in Ireland. He now plays as a regular for the Irish national side.
Monty Ioane has a Samoan father, Fijian mother and was born in Victoria, Australia. At age 18 he moved to France and then about four years later moved to Italy. He then became eligible to play for the Italian national team under residency rules and now plays for them.
This is a very small snapshot of Samoan heritage players, playing for a country that they had zero association with until they started playing PROFESSIONALLY inside that country. Now, I can understand if a player grew up there, but these are players that are eligible based on residency rules only after playing club rugby in their host country. This is the sort of talent drain that has absolutely plundered Pacific Island rugby.
The story of France international Alivereti Raka is a perfect example of how talent is siphoned from the islands. French Top 14 side Clermont Auvergne has an academy in the village of Sigatoka, Fiji. Clermont Auvergne funds the academy in return for the French side having their pick of players, the Nadroga Rugby club based in Sigatoka then getting a cut. Raka has been capped five times by France and won't be able to represent Fiji now.
There's two sides to every coin and there are benefits for players but at the absolute least, it is borderline exploitation. How does it get to this stage for Pacific Islanders?
The massive flow of Pacific Islanders to Europe, Australia and New Zealand to play rugby mostly comes down to finances. Islanders are naturally built and are perfect for rugby, but the islands don't have the infrastructure or the finances to support pro rugby. Family is the most important thing to islanders and the money that is made from playing rugby overseas is sent back to their families and villages and helps support the wider community.
For Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugby competition, they'll be made up of 80% of players who represent Samoan or Tonga, and also represent other smaller islands. In typical fashion the franchise was already made to battle against the odds as European based players were set to sign for the franchise but because of delays in granting approvals for the franchise, they had to commit elsewhere.
But at least Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua is a step in the right direction. It'll be a while though before those teams can flip the trend of world class Pacific Islander players playing for rich overseas rugby clubs.
For me, it already feels at least 20 years too late. All Black legends like Kevin Mealamu, Jerry Collins, Jerome Kaino, Sir Michael Jones, Rodney So’oialo, Ma’a Nonu and Christian Cullen could all have represented Samoa.
So many Samoans have represented New Zealand, but New Zealand has given so much to Samoans so it is hard to argue or dispute against that. Many New Zealand-born Samoans then play for Samoa, with the population of Samoans in New Zealand close to that of Samoa itself. The issue however is that either way, the best players are always going to pick the New Zealand All Blacks because of their rich history, the money on offer and the likelihood of winning trophies.
As much as I argue of the borderline exploitation of Pacific Islanders in rugby, it's a complex issue and arguments can be made for both sides. But more needs to be done to bridge the gap because all it does is make me feel like the game of rugby is heavily skewed in favour of the wealthy and elite. All it does is heavily inbalance international rugby, and what fun is that? It's just not healthy for the long term health of the game and it's evident in the decline of rugby in recent years.
What are your thoughts on the state of international rugby?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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I have to admit the Super Rugby format was milked dry and I lost interest and still don't watch. I watch the 6 Nations and some local UK rugby these days and nothing local. I think there is more concern over head injuries than the state of rugby right now as this is the next big thing to rock the sport. New Zealand has benefitted hugely from the Islanders and you can't blame the players following the money.
Ye absolutely. New Zealand and Samoa are very closely linked and it's the dream of many Samoans to play for the All Blacks ahead of Samoa. A lot of young Samoans grow up in New Zealand. In fact about 4% of the New Zealand population is Samoan background, and about 62% of those were born in NZ. There is the "Treaty of Friendship" between the two and there is an article within it that states both countries will work together to promote the welfare of the people of Samoa. It also goes as far as stating that if Samoa ever wishes, New Zealand would represent the country at any international conference.
NZ is like the bigger, bigger brother to Samoa. When you frame it like that, rugby players is probably the least that the islands can do.
Hey man, delighted to have sparked your creativity for another great post and this one is very close to your heart I can see. To be honest, I adore Bundee, as do all Connacht and Ireland fans. He is such a great guy and a wonderful player, who always plays with a smile on his face. I was delighted when he was eligible for Ireland, similarly Van Der Flier and Stander previously played for Ireland, even though they're South African and now we have another New Zealander in Mack Hansen who scored a brilliant try against France yesterday and looks the real deal for Ireland and Connacht.
Ireland have benefited hugely here, and so have other teams in Europe and to be honest it has never sat well with me and seems wrong. I'm all for transfers in club rugby, but when it comes to International rugby, you should have your country you were born in and that's it. You could possibly allow the parent or grandparent rule like soccer, but the residency thing is definitely exploitative in my opinion. I really hope Moana Pasifika will help to ease the exploitation. That won't be good for Irish and Connacht rugby, but this isn't about rugby, it's about right vs wrong.
Thanks mate! Yeh it's an interesting one. I think if the players grew up in the country it's a different story. Here in Australia it's very multicultural and I love when there's diversity in our national teams. But if you take some of the national teams in football and their naturalisation process, they take the mickey. Sebastián Soria was born in Uruguay, played 10 years for Qatar and scored 38 goals in 118 games. Great idea for another post thanks again! I might do some digging on some naturalised players and create a post. Cheers bro